For Better or Worse: Stars Are Awfully Hard to Replace

Gloria Wright / The Post-StandardThe Orange will need to replace the production from its three leading scorers last season, (from left) Eric Devendorf, Jonny Flynn and Paul Harris.

In an interview with ESPN reporter Andy Katz last April, Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim tried to downplay the losses of three starters off the Orange’s Sweet 16 team.

Jonny Flynn, Eric Devendorf and Paul Harris, Syracuse’s top three scorers and, in Harris, the team’s leading rebounder, had all decided to leave Syracuse early. To an outsider, those losses meant a rebuilding season for the Orange. Not so, said Boeheim.

“We lost three starters but I’ll take Wesley Johnson over Paul Harris and Andy Rautins over Eric Devendorf,” Boeheim said. “In some ways, Triche will be better for us. He’s really good.”

Johnson over Harris? OK, fine. A 6-foot-7 forward will surely fit the bill in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone and offensively, Johnson will outshine Harris. Rautins over Devendorf? That’s a closer call. Devendorf’s shot isn’t as pretty as Rautins’ text-book jumper, but Devendorf could drive and finish better. Rautins is taller, a better passer and a much better defender. Oh, yes, Rautins provides fewer headaches for the coaching staff.

But Triche over Flynn? No knock on the freshman from Jamesville-DeWitt, but I’m not taking any guard currently in college basketball over the prospect of Flynn returning for his junior year. I’ll even take Flynn over the package deal of Triche and sophomore Scoop Jardine.

Flynn was merely the best point guard in America last season. The Minnesota Timberwolves selected him with the No. 6 pick in the NBA Draft.

Donna’s theory holds water with Johnson and Rautins, but Flynn’s the trump card in this deal.

In college basketball, the most important position is point guard. Flynn proved that last year in leading Syracuse to a 28-10 record, SU’s most wins since 2003.

But look closer at SU’s record. The Orange played nine games decided by five points or less or in overtime and won an astounding seven times. In those seven nail-biting victories, Flynn averaged 23.0 points and 8.3 assists.

Without a dominating point guard like Flynn, Syracuse could easily go 4-5 in those close contests and drop to 25-13. Remember Flynn playing 67 out of a possible 70 minutes in Syracuse’s 6-overtime win over Connecticut.

I don’t know what Donna has against great players. Last year, she wrote in this same space that she’d take the duo of Devendorf and Rautins instead of a return for his sophomore year of Donte Greene. Now, she’s downplaying the impact of one of the greatest point guards in Syracuse history.

Don’t believe me?

Last year, Flynn scored 663 points, the most ever for a Syracuse sophomore.
In addition, Flynn also doled out 563 assists last season, a total surpassed by just two players in Syracuse history — Sherman Douglas and Lazarus Sims.

So while I think Syracuse enters this season underrated and under the radar, in part due to the voters’ fixation on who the Orange lost instead of who’s coming back, I can’t get past that Syracuse’s most significant loss was a barely 6-foot-tall point guard with a toothpaste-commercial smile and the heart of a lion.